The practice in which "black companies" exploit employees, especially young workers, by imposing excessively heavy workloads, long working hours and low pay continues to be a serious social issue. As part of its effort to help stamp out such exploitation, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has announced it will set up a system under which public employment security offices may decline to accept notices of job availability from such businesses.

Although this decision is late, it is a meaningful step forward. The government and society should strive harder to eradicate the practice of treating workers like throwaways.

In the labor ministry's 2013 survey — its first ever — of 5,111 businesses nationwide suspected of "black" labor practices, 4,189 or 82.0 percent of the total were found to have violated labor-related laws in one way or another — 43.8 percent by imposing illegal overtime work on employees, 23.9 percent by failing to pay workers for overtime and 1.4 percent by not taking steps to prevent health hazards from overwork.